When I Was Cruel

April 24, 2002

The CD comes with a little sticker that says “The First LOUD Record since 199?” I don’t consider it “loud” or angry or vitriolic or any of the other things that the press releases seem to keep flaunting. It is an extremely good rock record, reminiscent of Brutal Youth or Blood and Chocolate, where Elvis’s jagged guitar attack meets headlong with his refined sense of songwriting. Quite plainly, there is no one that can turn a phrase like Costello, and his years of torch, folk and jazz sidework have taught him to use his voice to convey it all to a degree he was simply unable to before. He doesn’t have to yell and sneer all the time anymore, since he’s discovered the ability to coax meaning out of his phrasings.

It’s no longer the right time or place for Costello to show up and revolutionize music like he did with “My Aim Is True,” but it remains an utter joy to listen to someone so good at his craft.

Posted in From Blown Speakers